


A Slippery Surprise

by ericsonclan



Series: OG World [66]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Birthday, F/F, F/M, Gen, Ice Skating, Post-Canon, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Louis and the others planned something extra special for A.J.'s birthday.
Relationships: AJ | Alvin Jr. & Clementine (Walking Dead), Aasim/Ruby (Walking Dead: Done Running), Allison/Willy (Walking Dead: Done Running), Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: OG World [66]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815361
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	A Slippery Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

“Can I open them now?” A.J. asked, his brows furrowing as he continued walking along the corridor in total darkness, his only anchor Louis’ voice.

“In just a second, kiddo. We just gotta round the corner and then we’ll be there,”

A.J. nodded. He trusted Louis completely, but the ten-year-old was at an utter loss as to where they were. He thought he knew the school like the back of his hand, but after following Louis through hall after hall with his eyes shut, he felt as though they were covering ground he’d never touched before, parts of the school that had been locked away and left for years.

Suddenly Louis’ footsteps stopped and AJ followed suit. “Alright, A.J., you ready for the best birthday surprise in the history of mankind?”

A.J. nodded eagerly, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. “Can I open my eyes _now?_ ”

“Now!”

As A.J.’s eyes opened, quickly adjusting to the dim light, he could see they were standing in front of an open doorway and that Clementine, Willy and Prisha stood along the sides of it. Smiling at them all, A.J. began to look around for his present, his eyes narrowing in confusion. Where was it? The room in front of him seemed to be an empty classroom. All the desks and furniture were moved out long ago, only the chalkboard and random faded pieces of paper remaining on the walls. That wasn’t much of a surprise. But there was something different about the floor. It was shining, cold… “Ice?”

“Perhaps the surprise will make a bit more sense if I give you these as well,” Grabbing a parcel from Clementine, Louis placed it in the hands of the young boy.

A.J. ripped the wrapping off quickly, tossing it aside. In his hands were a pair of white shoes with black soles. Along the bottom of them were metal blades that had a smooth edge. A.J.’s nose wrinkled in thought as he tried to figure out what exactly they were for. A chuckle from Clementine drew his eyes to her.

“Try them on, kiddo. Then step into the room. But be careful,”

Following her instructions, A.J. sat down upon the floor and began to remove his shoes to put on the others. From the looks on everyone’s faces, they seemed excited for what was to come. With the skates on, A.J. struggled to his feet, needing some help from Willy and Louis as he wobbled. Looking to Clementine to make sure he was still doing this right, A.J. was heartened when she smiled and nodded. Now for the last step. Stepping onto the ice. Holding onto Willy’s hand and leaning against the taller teen for support, A.J. placed one foot upon the ice and then the other. Willy let go… and A.J.’s feet began to glide on their own.

A.J. looked down at his feet in wonder, watching them slide across the ice effortlessly. Turning back to look at the others, he smiled. “They move on their own!”

“It’s called ice skating, kiddo!” Louis replied with a grin. “Try moving your legs – you’ll go even faster!”

Taking Louis’ advice, A.J. moved his legs. Immediately his speed increased, the blades on the special shoes curving round on the ice. His audience applauded, all of them smiling happily as they watched A.J. circle the classroom. “This is amazing!” A.J. exclaimed, speeding up even more.

“A.J., wait-” Clementine’s protest was cut short as the toe of one of A.J’s blades caught the ice and the boy was flung forward, wiping out on the floor.

“Shit! You okay, buddy?” Louis asked, shimmying his way across the room to help A.J. up. Clementine hurried over as well, taking A.J.’s other arm.

“There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to ice skating,” Prisha observed as she glided across the ice toward them. A.J. noticed that she was also wearing bladed shoes, though unlike his hers seemed to be attached to the outside of her regular shoes.

Willy zoomed over beside her, stopping with a little twirl. “Prisha and I have been practicing on the home-made skates for a week now! We wanted to make sure we got the rink right before we shared it with you,”

“You made this?” A.J. asked, looking upon the shining floor and then them with admiration. “You guys can really make anything!”

Prisha smiled happily at the praise. “Louis was the one who came up with the idea and Clementine tracked down the skates. Then Willy and I worked to execute it. It took a tarp and some plastic scaffolding to keep the water in place and make sure it lay flat, but then it was merely a matter of flooding the room using the hoses from the pool and waiting for it to freeze,”

“Now that you’ve seen your surprise, everybody can join in!” Willy exclaimed, spreading his arms out excitedly. “We told the others to come as well so that way everyone gets a turn with the skates!”

“But as the birthday boy, those are yours to keep, bud,” Louis placed a hand on A.J.’s shoulder and smiled down at him fondly.

A.J. glanced down at his blades then looked back up at Louis. “Can you join me in skating? Please, please, please?”

“Definitely! I’ll just need to borrow some skates…”

“You can have mine,” Prisha offered, skating back toward the doorway. “We only have the two pairs of skates that we’ve crafted so far, and the other used pairs are meant for children’s feet, so you’ll be far too large,”

As Prisha and Louis were busy with the skates, the two newest members of Ericson showed up. “Wowee!” Renata exclaimed, sticking her head through the door and letting out an impressed whistle. “That’s quite the rink you’ve made!”

“Allison!” Willy exclaimed, zooming over excitedly. “Want to try my skates out? I can help you get used to them and then you’ll fly across the ice!”

Allison looked upon the skates with skepticism, then back up at Willy’s excited, earnest face. Shrugging, she gave a small nod. Willy let out a yelp of joy and immediately got to work taking off his skates to give to Allison.

A.J. looked towards Clementine. “Clem, are you gonna be able to skate too?”

Before Clementine could answer, Louis cut in, skating forward. “There is in fact a pair of skates that fit the lovely Clementine’s dainty feet,” He bowed dramatically, offering up a worn out pair of white skates.

His wife smiled at the gesture, fondly rolling her eyes before taking them. After taking a minute to get the skates on she was ready and all three were skating round the room arm in arm.

“This is the best!” A.J. exclaimed, happily tucked in between Louis and Clementine.

Willy and Allison had also made it out onto the ice, Willy without skates but happily jogging beside Allison as she skated forward. She seemed fairly steady but every time she flinched or paused Willy had his arms out, ready to break her fall. Those were the only moments that Willy’s non-stop dialogue was temporarily paused before he launched right back into his stories, Allison listening and nodding along to them. Meanwhile Prisha and Renata were chatting comfortably while watching from the doorstep.

“Will you look at that!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Ruby and Aasim had joined the group, each with a sleeping baby strapped to their chests. Ruby’s eyes twinkled as she took in the rink. “Look at the way it sparkles! Why, I haven’t been ice skating since I was just a teeny little thing!”

“Would you like to try now?” Prisha lifted up a pair of skates. “I believe these would fit you,”

Ruby looked down at Maisy, sleeping peacefully upon her chest.

“I can take her too,” Prisha suggested.

“And I can take Zach if you want to skate too, Aasim,” Renata offered.

The couple shared a look before nodding. The swap was made and soon the pair was out on the ice, Ruby on skates while Aasim strolled beside his wife.

“So this is what you’ve been so secretive about these past few weeks,” Violet’s voice caused Prisha to turn round with a smile, bouncing Maisy softly as she spoke.

“I figured it would be best to surprise as many people as possible. And I didn’t want to disappoint in case we weren’t able to get the plan to work,”  


“Looks like it worked out perfectly,” Violet observed. The rink was quite full now, the groups intermingling and twirling round each other as they skated. Louis tried to do a fancy twirl only to fall on his butt much to A.J. and Clementine’s amusement while Willy was spinning Allison round in circles as fast as she could go.

“Woo! Go, Allie!” Renata cheered, her smile bright as she watched the pair having fun. She looked around the room, then back out to the hallway. “Hey, where’s Omar? He’s the only one we’re missing, right?”

“He said he had a surprise of his own and that he’d be here in a minute,” Violet replied.

Ruby and Aasim came back over to the doorway. Ruby shot Violet a smile. “Vi, would you like a turn? I bet your feet would fit. I just got an idea for how to turn this rink into a total winter wonderland! Just gotta grab a few things,” Not waiting for an answer, she handed over the skates to Violet and bustled off down the hall, dragging Aasim behind her.

Violet stared dumbly at the skates in her hands.

“If you’d like, I could go out on the ice with you,” Prisha offered. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall if that’s what has you concerned,”

“…OK,” Violet sat down to put on her skates before looking up in realization. “Wait, who’s gonna take Maisy though?”

“That would be me,” Omar’s calming voice came from behind them, causing all three girls to turn round. Omar was standing beside his cauldron which was safely nestled atop the wheelbarrow he’d been given for his own birthday. From inside the cauldron, the smell of apples arose. “Thought I’d try my hand at apple cider this year. Take as much as you want – there’s plenty,”

The smell quickly drew the attention of the others, leading to a crowd round the doorway to the rink. Once everyone had their bowls of cider they dispersed again and Omar was handed Maisy while Prisha and Violet took to the ice hand in hand. Ruby and Aasim returned with paper, scissors and chalk and after a quick cider break they also took to the ice, though instead of skating their focus was on decorations: paper snowflakes and winter illustrations all across the blackboard.

Coming off the ice, A.J., Louis and Clementine removed their skates then settled in for second helpings of apple cider. Maisy had begun to stir and was taken by Clementine who gently rocked her daughter in her arms until she drifted off to sleep again. Taking seats along the far wall, the three sipped their apple cider and chatted happily while watching the continued fun on the rink.

Renata had switched off with Willy, going on the ice with Allison while Willy happily bounced Zachariah in his arms and chatted with Omar. Violet and Prisha skated together now that Louis had returned Prisha’s skates, the two of them gliding round the ice hand in hand before pausing from time to time to share a quick kiss. The room was covered in paper snowflakes now and the whiteboard had illustrations of snowmen, angels and Christmas trees from one end to the other.

“Well, little man, how did we do?” Louis asked, grinning at A.J. and ruffling his hair.

A.J. wrinkled his nose at the “little” part Louis still insisted on attaching to the nickname, but grinned nonetheless. “It was awesome! Best birthday ever!”

Clementine chuckled. “Wow, best ever? We’ll have a hard time topping it next year!”

“Good thing we have a year to plan then,” Louis quipped, winking at his wife.

A.J. looked between the pair and smiled over at Maisy asleep in Clementine’s arms. He watched all the fun happening inside the rink as well. Everyone was here, celebrating together and having fun. And the fun didn’t have to end today either; Willy had told him the rink would probably last till spring. This was the best possible present he could ever think of. He was itching to get back on the ice again. “I’m gonna go again – be back later!” With that he was off, scurrying back onto the frozen wonderland.

Louis and Clementine shared a knowing smile before snuggling close together, Louis’ arm wrapping protectively round his wife and child. “We done good, Clem,” Louis said with mock solemnity before his characteristic smile pulled at his lips once more.

“That we did,” Clementine rested her head upon her husband’s shoulder, happily watching the winter scene before them. “He’s growing up so fast,”

“Ah, he’s still a kid,” Louis observed, watching as A.J. let Allison and Renata swing him round and round. “And this? This is a memory he’ll never forget,”

“You’re right,” Clementine smiled as she saw the fun A.J. and the others were having. “You want to join in again soon?”

“Wild horses couldn’t hold me back,”

With that the couple got to their feet, heading over to wait their turn to get back on the ice. And so the festivities continued, the first of many days that were sure to be spent upon the Ericson ice rink.


End file.
